October 24th, 2024Kingston garden to open for CFA fundraiser

The upcoming opening of the old school house garden at Kingston to raise funds for the local CFA fire brigade represents an opportunity not to be missed. 

Without a doubt one of the best private gardens in the region, it is owned by Graham Fisher and Anthony Straker and rarely opens to the public. 

When it does it’s certainly a treat for garden lovers, but the opening that’s set for Saturday, November 2 promises to be a great day out with live music, onsite refreshments and tours by owner-gardener Graham Fisher. 

It’s a great chance to make a day of exploring the many fantastic creative ideas this remarkable oasis has to offer including impressive visual lines-of-sight, over a kilometre of formal hedging, glorious vistas and clever plant combinations. 

Featuring established native and exotic trees and a wide array of floriferous plants including traditional cottage favourites and de rigueur dry-climate perennials, the garden graces two hectares of the overall three-hectare site and embraces the 1871-founded former Kingston Primary School building which Anthony and Graham have lovingly restored. 

“We’ve spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears on restoring it,” says Graham, an architect by profession. “The garden is designed around a lot of the original trees that were already here including the aleppo pine (pinus halepensis) that is related to the Lone Pine.” 

Eagerly anticipating the event, secretary of Kingston CFA Fire Brigade Wendy Dunton says the goal is to raise funds toward replacing one of the brigade’s two tankers. 

Kingston garden openKingston garden open for CFA fundraiserfor CFA fundraiser Wendy, brigade captain Robert Haughey, and their team of volunteer members say they’re delighted that Graham and Anthony have generously offered to make their garden available. 

“It’s our community-based tanker which is very old and needs to be replaced,” Wendy says. 

“We have applied for a grant and we have to match it. Our other tanker – Tanker One – can go off on strike teams. But this community-based tanker that we need to replace is based here at all times to protect the local community. We’re also trying to get a new station as well.” 

As part of the upcoming Open Garden Day, Graham will lead tours of the garden at both 11am and 1pm on the day, with the $15 (adults) gate entry fee going entirely to the CFA cause. 

Words & images: Eve Lamb